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Well, Obama started the speech with a series of descriptions of everyday Americans, spanning a variety of lifestyles. Of the seven examples he gave, including the teacher line, three got applause. The first applause line celebrated entrepreneurs working in a recovering economy; the second, rural doctors who could now give affordable prescriptions under Obamacare (only half the audience clapped, to be clear); and the third was for military families reunited after the War in Afghanistan.

So I don't think this was any kind of congressional jilt of teachers as much as an indication of the country's biggest and most exhausting struggles over the past decade.

Alright, let's talk turkey, and by turkey I mean, what did the president say about education?The education section of the president's speech started in earnest just over 25 minutes into the speech. Some wished he had gotten there sooner.

What did he talk about? Oh God, is there going to be another Race to the Top?He spent only a few minutes on education, giving mention to early learning and, yes, Race to the Top, although not a new version, as detailed on the Politics K-12 blog. He also made a somewhat indirect defense of the Common Core State Standardsor at least more rigorous standards in general.

On the topic of Race to the Top, AFT President Randi Weingarten noticed a major applause disparity (which actually was pretty noticeable for anyone following education policy; I swear, even I spotted it):

President impassioned on so many educ initiatives- prek, skill training, college & was applauded. Didn't hear passion or applause on #rttt

Funny you should mention it, me-pretending-to-be-you: At the end of the night, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, trying to build off the momentum of the speech, took to Twitter to do an #askarne chat. It went, um ... "well" probably wouldn't be the best word. For example:

@arneduncan How do children develop critical thinking with a nationwide emphasis on rote memorization for standardized testing? #AskArne

President Obama hit a grand slam among the Democratic side of his audience with this one:

"A woman deserves equal pay for equal work. She deserves to have a baby without sacrificing her job. A mother deserves a day off to care for a sick child or sick parent without running into hardship—and you know what, a father does, too. It's time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a 'Mad Men' episode."

But the biggest round of applause, by far, went to Army Sgt. 1st Class Cory Remsburg, who suffered major injuries from a roadside bomb during his 10th tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Did anything else happen on Twitter that teachers should know about?

Washington schools chancellor Kaya Henderson gave a shout-out to one of Michelle Obama's guests, D.C. teacher Kathy Hollowell-Makle. Henderson also revealed that DCPS had selected Hollowell-Makle as a representative when the White House called and asked.

Having your work recognized by #POTUS @ #SOTU is an amazing compliment. Congrats to the awesome students & educators of DC #soproud#weRdcps

If you still want more State of the Union, here's the full address, courtesy of The New York Times; the education section starts at 44:50:

UPDATE (Jan. 30): TV ratings firm Nielsen estimates that across 13 networks, the speech had about 33.3 million viewers, a 14-year low. That does not include live-streaming options.

Image: President Barack Obama delivers the State of Union address before a joint session of Congress in the House chamber in Washington, as Vice President Joe Biden, and House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, listen. —Larry Downing/Reuters

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